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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Note to self: You are not Wonder Woman!

Being a new mom has been a wonderful, new and sometimes overwhelming experience. Since my daughter has been born, my brain just doesn't retain all of the information it did before her birth.

I've started this blog as a way of keeping my thoughts, recipes, tips, etc. all in one place. Not only to share with family and friends, but to keep this scatterbrained momma a bit more organized.

I also started meal / menu planning. Each week, I plan what I will prepare for dinner each day. I try to keep in mind what ingredients I have on hand in my pantry or freezer while I plan each week's menu. It has helped me keep up with making sure there is dinner on the table every night. And I no longer stand staring into the refrigerator every afternoon wondering what to make, since I forgot AGAIN to thaw something for dinner.

I went from not cooking for over ayear due to morning sickness, to just being too tired and swollen during my pregnancy to cook, to being to exhausted to even think about feeding the adults in the house once the baby was born, to cooking full meals every night and trying to be creative and make a new dish every day plus trying to have some meals prepared for the freezer!

Last week, it all caught up with me. My husband has been working a lot of over-time lately. And while I am so thankful that he has a job and for the extra money in his paycheck each week, the being home alone with the baby for so many hours (over twelve hours every day including commuting time) is starting to get a bit old.

Plus, I bathe the baby after clearing the table from dinner. The later my husband was getting home, the later I was bathing her and the fussier she was getting because we were messing with her schedule. And it was making me feel very stressed.

So much so, that I decided not to follow my menu plan for last week and declared Friday a leftover night. And not just a leftover night, but a fend for yourself night!!!

Usually, if I decide to serve leftovers for dinner, it's something that has a few servings left to it. Like a big batch of chili or stew or something. But lately, when I have a lot of a meal left, I've been stashing it away in the freezer. Trying to stock up for the winter.

So, the leftovers in the fridge tht night were just small portions of this or that. We each reheated our own meal and either ate right out of the serving dish or used a paper plate. We each cleared our own dishes from the table, loaded what needed to go into the dishwasher and that was it!

We didn't each have the same things on our plates for dinner and you know what.....it was okay! The world didn't end! We still ate together and chatted over dinner the same as if it was a huge meal that I cooked all day. Except for the fact that I felt less pressure while I ate, thinking about all that still needed to be done immediately after dinner. Since I knew that clean-up from dinner would be so simple!

So, while keeping organized by blogging and menu planning and even having a fend for yourself leftovers night all work for me, the one thing that works the most is: reminding myself that I am not Wonder Woman and that it's okay!

Hello! Welcome to Under the Big Oak Tree! My name is Alison, I'm a stay at home mom and housewife. I enjoy cooking healthy, frugal meals for my family. As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a mom. That dream finally came true when my daughter was born. She's the best thing to ever happen to me!